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              The Slip Before The Fall
                       A d v e r t i s e m e n t
     Without independent thought, any “organized religion”
degenerates into superstition, which  is destructive of the
object of religion. This is demonstrated numerous times in
Scripture, beginning with the early chapters of Genesis, through
inconsistencies. This should come as no great surprise, given the
independent thought of Abraham. (see Nimrod page 74). This
advertisement provides a small demonstration of how the authors
of Scripture, like Mary Shelley, included discrepancies, which
only religion can reconcile.  This particular demonstration
more than affirms Spinoza’s observation that superstition
arises when humans find that rules do not seem to apply. It
goes further, showing that the disorder, which causes the
human to resort to superstition, may begin with the desire to
avert disorder. It also reveals something of the problem of the
confusion of religion with superstition that Spinoza identifies
as coming from the attitude often taken by those in positions
of so-called religious authority.
     Although the commandment concerning the fruit of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil is that the human not eat it,
to the inquiry of the serpent, the woman replies as though the
Lord had given two commandments to the man concerning a
tree in the center of the garden. She says that the Lord also
prohibited touching the fruit of that particular tree. From the      for more on this
series of reported events, and with common knowledge of        click here
human behavior, we propose an explanation for the discrep-
ancy. The man, the only human who existed at the time the
commandment was given, is concerned that the new human
will not be as careful as he believes himself to be with regard
to the danger the Lord described. As a precaution, the man
invents the Lord’s commandment not to touch the fruit, as it
seems more likely that his fellow human will obey the Lord
than that she will conform her behavior to give her mate the
peace of mind that was his when the decision to obey the
Lord was his and only his. The woman’s response to the serpent
reveals that the man is not treating her as an equal. Considering
the second commandment as superstition, it is possible to see
that accidental touching could have led the woman to believe
that the Lord, whom she thinks authored the commandment, was
either ignorant or dishonest. Thus, in an ancient religious text,
we see that a moral tendency may inspire superstition and become
destructive of the object of religion.
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             To a Candid World, Copyright 1998,  Thomas Wolfsehr